


Lanterns

by Burgie



Series: DakotaxAlex AU [1]
Category: Star Stable Online
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-20
Updated: 2017-07-20
Packaged: 2018-12-04 15:51:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11558445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: An afternoon at the beach takes an unexpected turn, but it all turns out well in the end. Dakota belongs to that-sso-raven on tumblr.





	Lanterns

Tim’s breath stank. This wasn’t surprising, considering the smoothies that he regularly drank. He offered one to Dakota now, and she stared at the offensive drink.

“Am I supposed to drink this?” asked Dakota, eyeing off the bright pink liquid. Pink wasn’t a very good colour on Jorvik. Maybe it had Pandorian magic mixed into it. Maybe Tim was actually a secret undercover Dark Core agent, or a rogue agent working to kill her.

“Sure, girl! It’s amazing, I drink it all the time,” said Tim, his awful breath making Dakota want to vomit. She wished that she didn’t have to stand so close to him, but there were so many people around that Dakota had to stand close to hear him talk.

“If I die, I’ll come back as a ghost and haunt you,” said Dakota. And, so speaking, she picked up the glass full of vile liquid and drank it down. Her stomach turned inside out, her vision blurred, and suddenly she was on the ground.

When Dakota came around, she could see sky, part of a tree, and Alex’s face above her.

“Hello,” said Dakota.

“What happened?” asked Alex. “That guy said you drank something and passed out?” She gestured towards Tim, who was still behind the bar.

“Yeah,” said Dakota. She tried to sit up, and clutched her stomach. “Can you go get me a glass of water, please? I have to-“ Well, why say the word when she could do the action? Fortunately, there was a tree very nearby. Dakota hoped that it wouldn’t kill the tree.

“Here,” said Alex, pressing a bottle of water into her palm within the space of a few seconds. She looked angry, but also concerned as Dakota took a sip of the water and rinsed her mouth out.

“Tim wanted me to try his mystery drink,” said Dakota. “I passed out so it was probably poison.”

“That bastard,” said Alex. “He tried to kill you.”

“And he failed,” said Dakota, sipping from the water again.

“Good thing he did,” said Alex, giving her a look so fond that Dakota had to blush and look away. Her eyes went to the beach, and the bright colours there.

“Want to watch the lanterns?” asked Dakota, seeing them float above the water. 

“I wonder where you buy them from,” said Alex.

“I think I saw a girl selling them over there,” said Dakota, pointing.

“Okay,” said Alex. “I’ll buy some. What colours?” Dakota watched the floating lanterns for a while, trying to decide.

“The red looks nice,” said Dakota.

“Then I’ll get you a red one,” said Alex. “And I’ll get another colour for myself.”

“Okay,” said Dakota, nodding. She drank some water and moved over to sit on the lower diving board of the diving tower, her legs hanging over the edge with her toes in the water. There was some sort of commotion over at the bar, but Dakota just assumed that it was someone else passing out from Tim’s creations. She stared up at the lanterns instead, idly swirling her toes in the water.

Sometime later, Alex appeared on the beach, so Dakota waded through the water to meet her.

“Feeling better?” asked Alex.

“Yeah,” said Dakota, nodding. “I think I just had to get that drink out of my system.”

“Sounds gross but yeah,” said Alex. “Makes sense.” She held Dakota’s red lantern out to her.

“Thanks,” said Dakota. She knelt in the sand by another red lantern, and lit the wick.

“Make a wish,” said Alex.

“I’m pretty sure that’s not how it works,” said Dakota.

“Oh well,” said Alex, shrugging. “I’m making a wish anyway.” Dakota smiled, and made her own wish before she launched her little lantern up into the air. It bumped into Alex’s blue lantern, and they both laughed and held hands. Dakota rubbed her thumb over Alex’s knuckles, and was surprised when her girlfriend winced.

“What happened?” asked Dakota, looking at the bruised skin.

“I punched Tim,” said Alex.

“What?” asked Dakota. “Why?”

“Because he poisoned you,” said Alex. Dakota tried to feel sorry for Tim, but honestly, she couldn’t. He had tried to poison her, after all.

“That’s fair,” said Dakota. “Thank you for defending me.”

“Just doing my job as a good girlfriend,” said Alex. Dakota kissed Alex’s knuckles, and then Alex kissed her. Dakota’s stomach flipped again, in a good way this time.

They sat on the beach together and watched the lanterns drift by overhead.

“You know, those things land in fields and light fires sometimes,” said Alex.

“Oh,” said Dakota. That was unfortunate. She just wanted to have a romantic afternoon on the beach with her girlfriend, and now she might burn down some poor farmer’s field.

“But don’t worry,” said Alex. “Here on Jorvik, there are preventative measures to stop that from happening.”

“Like what?” asked Dakota.

“The Water Circle druids have these magical barriers,” said Alex. “If they detect fire, they put it out.”

“Like fire sprinklers?” asked Dakota.

“Yeah, exactly,” said Alex, nodding. “Magical fire sprinklers specifically for Jorvik.” Dakota smiled at the mental image.

“I thought the Water Circle was just something made up by that Merlin guy to sell clothes,” said Dakota.

“Oh no, they’re real,” said Alex. “Weird but real. They do rain dances.” Dakota laughed, and Alex wrapped her arm around her girlfriend and kissed the side of her head.

The lanterns continued to float overhead as the sun set and the stars came out. Eventually, the pair moved up to the top of the diving tower, lying down on the planks for a better look at the beautiful sight.

“I’m going to build a little float tomorrow so we can see them better,” said Alex.

“I’ll help,” said Dakota. Alex gave her a fond smile, and Dakota felt as light as the lanterns drifting above them.


End file.
